What Is the Salt Water Cure?
The salt water cure is one of the cheapest and easiest feng shui remedies to try: a cup of coarse salt + water + six copper coins, placed in a direction that needs calming.
The name "an ren" (An Ren, 安忍), meaning "endure calmly," is really its instruction manual. It does not deal with sudden wealth. It deals with the stretches of time you just have to hold on and get through. Constant arguments at home, gossip and disputes, friction with people, one small illness after another, an atmosphere that feels heavy and stuck: these are the "not exactly disasters but grinding at you daily" situations the salt water cure is meant to guard against.
The principle is simple: coarse salt absorbs stale energy, water dissolves harsh energy, and the metal energy of the copper coins drains the Earth element. In the nine-palace flying stars, the two most inauspicious ones, the Five Yellow (Wu Huang, 五黃) and the Two Black Illness Star (Er Hei, 二黑), both belong to Earth. Using Metal to drain Earth is the standard method, which is why the salt water cure is most often placed in these two directions.
Want to know which sector of your home the Five Yellow and Two Black land in this year? Head to Xuankong Flying Star Feng Shui to lay out this year's flying star chart.
🧂 What You Need to Prepare
- One portion of coarse salt. Sea salt or natural coarse salt both work. Do not use refined salt or fine iodized salt.
- One portion of clean water. Tap water left to reach room temperature is fine; you do not need bottled mineral water.
- Six copper coins. Traditionally people use Five Emperor Coins or ordinary old copper coins. What matters is the copper, not the value. If you cannot find antique coins, clean copper discs or copper coins work too.
- One container. A glass cup, a white porcelain bowl, or a clear cup all work. Do not use a metal container (metal muddles the effect of the copper coins), and do not use an Earth-element vessel other than ceramic.
🥤 The Standard Method
- Wash and dry the container first.
- Pour in coarse salt until it is about seven-tenths full. Lots of salt, only a little water: this is what sets the salt water cure apart from ordinary salt water.
- Slowly pour in clean water until it just covers the surface of the salt. Do not fill it to the rim.
- Lay the six copper coins flat on the salt surface, character side up, and try not to stack them.
- Place it on the floor or on a low cabinet in the direction that needs calming, not higher than a person's head.
- Leave it uncovered. The salt water cure relies on natural evaporation to carry off murky energy. Seal it up and it stops working.
📍 Where to Put It
- This year's Five Yellow direction: this dissolves the heaviest inauspicious energy and is the one cup most worth placing all year.
- This year's Two Black direction: this governs health, so it is especially important when there are elderly people or someone unwell at home.
- Spaces with a lot of gossip and disputes: the living room, beside your desk, the corner of a room where arguments often happen.
- Near the bathroom or where trash collects: to gather up murky energy.
- Along passageways in layouts where the front door faces the stove, or the front door faces the bathroom.
2026, the Bing-Wu year, has the One White entering the center. The Five Yellow flies to the South, and the Two Black flies to the Northwest. Placing one cup in each of these two directions this year is the most basic setup.
🔄 How to Maintain It
- When the water dries out, top it up. Do not swap out the whole cup.
- When the salt forms heavy crystals, creeps up the outside of the cup, or the water turns murky or yellow, it means it is "full up." Replace the whole cup with fresh ingredients.
- In an ordinary environment, replace it every two to three months. In a damp or busy space, check it once a month.
- Pour the old salt water you replace straight into the toilet and flush it away. Do not use it to water plants and do not pour it into the kitchen sink.
- The copper coins can be washed and reused. It is normal for them to darken; just wipe them dry.
🚫 Five Common Mistakes
- Using fine salt. Refined salt has fine crystals and dissolves quickly, so it absorbs less well than coarse salt.
- Adding too much water. It becomes a cup of plain salt water and loses the whole point of "lots of salt, little water."
- Covering or sealing it. The murky energy cannot escape, so you have placed it for nothing.
- Putting it up high or on an altar. The salt water cure calms the earth energy, so the closer to the ground the better, and it certainly should not sit alongside a deity's place.
- Forgetting about it. This is the most common mistake of all. If you leave it after the salt has dried and the water has gone murky, you end up piling murky energy in that very direction instead.
⚖️ How to Pair the Salt Water Cure With the Gourd
The two work on different principles and can be used at the same time:
- The salt water cure handles "absorbing": it draws away the murky and harsh energy already gathered in that direction, and suits long-term placement.
- The copper gourd handles "collecting": it gathers the inauspicious energy into its belly and dissolves it, and is especially effective against the Two Black.
- For the Five Yellow direction, lean mainly on the salt water cure. For the Two Black direction, use the gourd together with the salt water cure.
- For both, do not place red objects, candles, or an electric heater nearby, since Fire generating Earth would strengthen the power of the Five Yellow and Two Black.
🗓️ Your Rhythm Through the Year
- After the Start of Spring, re-lay the flying stars for the year and move the salt water cure to the new Five Yellow and Two Black directions.
- On the first day of each lunar month, check the water level and the state of the salt.
- When family members start arguing often, catching minor illnesses, or sleeping poorly, first go check whether that cup of water is due for a change.
- After moving, renovating, or breaking ground, set up a fresh round.
Feng shui is a way of bringing your attention back to daily life, not a form of medical care. When your body or emotions are struggling, still see a doctor and still have the conversations you need to have. The salt water cure takes care of that corner you walk past every day without noticing.